Among several Charles Walkers
singing and playing blues and Soul, this particular Charles Walker was born
july 26th 1922 in Macon, Georgia. His blues guitarist father Freeman was quite
known in the neighborood joints under the moniker of Boweavil and taught his
son how to sing and play the real downhome blues.

Coming up north to find better
opportunities in Newark (NJ) in the 1940's, Charles Walker started a full time musical
career, playing in the local clubs and drawing the attention of talent scout
May McKay who brought him into New York City studios to record for the Robinson
brothers in 1956 his first 45, a driving instrumental a la Honky Tonk, Driving home. The record sold quite
well, at least locally, and Charles formed a blues band with good musicians
like harp player Danny B. Brown (not to be confused with Buster Brown who also
recorded for Bobby Robinson), ace pianist Lee Roy Little and striking guitarist
Wild Jimmy Spruill. In 1959, Charles recorded a new session with this band,
waxing the classic instrumental Charles
Walker's slop. Unfortunately, soon afterwards, all his musicians left him
for trying personal careers. Nevertheless, Charles continued to play regularly
in New York clubs, finding as sidemen young musicians like Larry Johnson. He
had to wait three years to record again in 1963, a good session for the tiny
Atlas label that unfortunately went nowhere.

Photo: Fred Seibert

In New York, like everywhere in the
USA, the blues was then considered out of fashion among the young
African-Americans and, after the Colonial Club where Charles played regularly
was destroyed by a fire plus several personal tragedies that plagued his life,
Walker left off music completely.

But in 1971, Bobby Robinson was aware
that a new almost entirely young and white blues scene was emerging in New York
City searching "real" bluesmen to learn from. He then persuaded Charles
Walker to take his guitar again. Robinson then recorded a long session with
Charles backed by Larry Johnson blowing the harmonica and Bob Malenky on
guitar. Unfortunately, only two titles have been issued on a rare Fury 45 and
the rest of the tracks still lay unissued somewhere in Robinson's vaults. The
same year, and this time with Bill Dicey playing the harp, Charles recorded
another 45 for the obscure P&P label with a good muddyesque version of 40 days and 40 nights.

With the help of Dicey, Charles was
able to play at some college venues, was interviewed by blues fan and bassist
Tom Pomposello who held his own radio programme and his small Oblivion label.
Tom persuaded Charles to record several new sessions with young sidemen plus
old friend Lee Roy Little. Blues fromThe
Apple is the complete album (with and without Charles) and deserves to be
heard; although nobody paid any attention to it when it was issued.

Tom tried very hard to promote
Charles Walker on the international blues circuit. But on june 24, 1975,
Charles died from a lung cancer.

I feel it might be time to listen a
little more carefully to this good true bluesman who gave much more than he
received. This mp3 collection gathers all his records even the ultra rareRock me mama (Fury) that Paul de Burycker has sent lately from hi extensive blues collection. Thanks a lot also to our good friend Benoit Blue Boy for providing the two parts of Driving home and pointing that the same title has been recorded some months after by New Orleans bandleader Paul Gayten, this time with Edgar Blanchard playing the guitar. And there is also another
Charles Walker - probably a Country musician who has recorded a two-part Driving home which is very different
from the Charles Walker's bluesy original.

Although rarely credited as a major figure of the Chicago blues, Fenton Robinson
has nevertheless a strong and well deserved reputation as a wonderful smooth
singer and subtle and expressive guitarist among blues buffs all over the
world.

Born September 23, 1935 in Minter City (Ms), the young Fenton had a very
hard childhood, having to quit school at an early age to help his farming
mother. A neighbor guitarist, Sammy Hampton, opened up his mind to music, jazz
and blues. It was anyway not before Fenton had moved to Memphis in the early
1950's that he was confronted to "real" musicians, live or on
records, T-Bone Walker, Oscar Moore, the sound of the big bands, the blues
shouters like Joe Williams (from Count Basie's) and Eddie Vinson who, all of
them, would stay as his main musical influences. All his life Fenton would want
to be a professionnal, classy musician, taking lessons, learning how to read
and write music and arrangements. With a friend, the guitarist Charles McGowan,
Fenton embarked himself on a musical career with great expectations and
ambitions. Relocated in Little Rock (Arkansas) in 1953, Fenton knew and played
with all the local musicians (Larry Davis, Sammy Lawhorn, Sunny Blair), hosted
a local radio programme and had gigs all around Little Rock up to Saint Louis
where he knew and played with Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. Tenor saxman and singer
Little Cameron, one of Ike's alumni, even went into Fenton's band whose whom he
would record a handful of sides.

At last, Fenton
recorded in 1957, first for Lester Bihari's Meteor label (Tennessee woman), then for Don Robey's Duke label. Well produced,
with gound sound and arrangements, the tracks that Fenton waxed for Duke in
1959-60 stand up very well the tests of time. As the years go passing by (an original composition by Peppermint
Harris who sold it to Robey), a new superior version of Tennessee woman, Mississippi
steamboat or The freeze (which
would greatly influence Albert Collins) are some of the best Duke titles.

But despite all that
buzz, Fenton had still to work on a day-job (in a Coca Cola plant) for bread
and butter. Once again, with great hopes, he went to try his luck in Chicago
where he would take more music lessons with Reggie Boyd.

Quickly, his mellow,
jazzy, floating and inventive guitar playing as well as his classy singing
(plus the reputation of his Duke 45's) earned him a secure job as leader of the
house band (with Bobby King, Jack Myers...) at Theresa's. He also managed to
record for several small Chicago labels: USA, Giant, Palos... In 1967, his
stunning composition Somebody loan me a
dime, for Palos, started to climb the local charts but was unfortunately
cut off by an early and severe Chicago winter which froze litteraly all
activities in the Windy city.

Anyway, rising rock
star Boz Scaggs heard the song, copyrighted the tune and recorded it for his
Atlantic album in 1969, a national smash hit that should have earned some needed
money to Fenton but instead left him embittered and poorer, the expanses of
lawyers and such going nowhere!

Trying to emulate Boz's
music, Nashville producer John Richbourn signed Fenton and made him recording a
poor rock-oriented album in which Fenton didn't even had the right to play his
guitar! Fenton went for a while on the road with Charlie Musselwhite.

At last in 1974, Fenton
recorded a major album under the wise production of Bruce Iglauer. Somebody loan me a dime (Alligator) is
certainly a masterpiece of the "modern" Chicago blues idiom in which
Fenton appears at the peak of his considerable talents. Several tracks from
this legendary sessions are still unissued. Maybe one day, Bruce and Alligator
would give us the "complete" recording session?

With such an album and
a dedicated producer like Iglauer, the future of Fenton Robinson seemed at last
promising. But bad luck struck him once again. Involved in a fatal car
accident, Fenton had to go to jail for several months in 1975.

He recorded another
good album for Alligator albeit less stunning than the previous one (I hear some blues downstairs) but
seemed not to be able to cash on anything. His brood temper, his versatility
discouraged many to take care of his career. Fenton quit Chicago to return to
Little Rock, just to find a dying blues scene, relocated to Springfield,
Illinois, where he chiefly lived upon musical lectures in schools and even day
jobs. He dropped off the US blues scene almost completely but, fortunately, his
great reputation in Japan and Europe gave him the opportunty to tour overseas
and record a handful of (very good) albums for the Dutch Black Magic label.

But this is a very bitter,
suspicious, disillusionned man, still aware of his considerable musical talents
largely unrecognized outside some limited circles, that died after an attack on
november 30, 1997.

His mostly first rate
recorded legacy speaks for his greatness.

If his albums are all
still available on CDs, his first sides on 45's are quite hard to obtain. With some help from Hartmut Münnich and Paul de Bruycker I
have thus collected his complete early works on this .mp3 comp.